Investing App Shares Raises $40 Million in Series A Funding
A Brief Summary
Shares, a social investment app from Paris, has raised $40 million in Series A funding in a round led by Valar Ventures. The investment comes following the Paris-based Fintech goes live with its app on the Apple App Store and Google Play and uptakes its total capital to $50 million.
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Shares App helps users identify investing behaviour of others. At present, the app is available only to investors in the UK. But the company has plans to expand its presence to other European countries in the future.
The technology used by Shares will enable investors to trade in public companies, friends and colleagues can collaborate when it comes to investing and building investment strategies on the app. Users can create accounts for just £1.00, and it is free to buy and sell shares.
One of the significant characteristics of the Shares App that distinguishes it from other similar apps is to create discussion groups to facilitate information sharing with other traders and investors on its platform. It also has a feature for the users to see when their friends or colleagues are buying and selling shares.
Since the app is only available to investors in the UK, the company has a waitlist for interested users in the EU. Shares has been associated with Alpaca Securities, which is its execution broker.
The company has its headquarters in Paris, co-founded by Benjamin Chemia (CEO), François Ruty (CTO) and Harjas Singh (CPO), maintains offices in London and Krakow. The company aims to reduce obstacles to investing, particularly for first-time users who are intimidated by many other factors.
Harjas Singh (CPO) said: " Despite having worked in finance, I know from my own experience as a retail investor how inaccessible the world of investing can be even with today’s lower barrier, commission-free apps. There is real consumer demand for a social-first app like Shares designed to level the playing field so anyone can join the conversation and become an investor.”
